The rush never ceases on Stockton Street, the thoroughfare at the heart of San Francisco's Chinatown.

For 20 years, Mable Vogt has seen it all from the two grocery stores she manages at Stockton and Broadway streets. On a recent afternoon, passers-by streamed down the sidewalk, chattering in Cantonese and carrying bags of bok choy. On the other side of the curb, a truck opened to reveal crates of oranges, as a packed bus wove through a sea of honking, roaring cars.

"It's always been busy with pedestrians and cars," said Vogt, 52, who oversees the Kun Luen and Best Food markets. "Whenever I go by Stockton, I know it's going to be a lot of pedestrians."

No other street in San Francisco bustles with people like this one. Now a group of planners, neighborhood activists and residents are trying to make that activity more manageable.

"The sidewalk sees so many people walk over it every day, it gets worn down," said Wu, who is also vice president of the city's Planning Commission.

With more than 20,000 people packed into just 30 blocks, Chinatown is the densest neighborhood in the United States west of Manhattan.

Bus and foot traffic

Eight bus lines run through the area. More than 9,000 people cross Stockton and Jackson streets within two hours on an average weekend, according to the Chinatown Community Development Center.

Supporters cite this high volume as justification for the Central Subway, the $1.6 billion, 1.7-mile subway that will connect Chinatown to the Caltrain station by December 2018.

But the workshops have focused on smaller solutions, like widening the sidewalks to allow people to walk more easily. A few stretches of sidewalk were extended about five years ago. Since the area predominantly draws foot traffic, however, some residents proposed replacing one of two southbound traffic lanes with sidewalk altogether.

Other ideas include removing light poles, trash cans, newspaper racks and parking meters to make more room on the sidewalk. Another suggestion was to consolidate the curbside arrivals of delivery trucks, which are crucial for grocery stores and restaurants but create headaches for car and bus drivers.

"The stores are small and part of what they're selling is freshness, so the delivery needs of Stockton are much more intense than on typical commercial districts elsewhere in San Francisco," said Jeffrey Tumlin, principal at Nelson\Nygaard and a transportation consultant involved in the process.

Other possibilities include better lighting, more durable sidewalks and widened curbs at intersections that would give people more room as they wait to cross.

Multiple uses

"People really view Stockton Street as a place for walking. It's a place for shopping. It's a street for transit," said Sarah Karlinsky, deputy director at SPUR. "Those are the most important uses on the street. These are the things that should be elevated."

Members of the Chinatown Community Development Center and SPUR plan to figure out which ideas have the most consensus and eventually present them as formal recommendations to the city. The hope is not to drive crowds away, but to make them want to come back.